1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic key apparatus for a vehicle which performs wireless transmission between an electronic key which is carried by the vehicle driver and a device mounted upon the vehicle, and which releases the locked state of a door or starts the vehicle engine upon checking of the ID of the driver; and further relates to a method for arrest cancellation of a rotation arresting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic key system for a vehicle which checks the ID of the vehicle driver by performing wireless transmission between an electronic key which is carried by the driver and a device mounted upon the vehicle, and which releases the locked state of a door or starts the vehicle engine based upon the result of this checking, is per se known (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-349117). With such an electronic key system for a vehicle, in order to enhance the anti theft characteristics, ID checking is performed between the vehicle mounted device and the electronic key when, in order to start the engine the driver performs the operation of pushing in the ignition knob; and, when it has been determined that the electronic key is the proper one, then it is arranged to allow rotation of the ignition knob, only after further ID checking has been performed between the vehicle mounted device and an ignition knob lock unit which prohibits rotation of the ignition knob.